'Heart of the World' Wins Main Prize at Russia's Kinotavr Fest

Grigory Konstantinopolsky collected the best director's award for 'Russian Demon.'

Natalia Meshchaninova's Serdtse mira (Heart of the World) collected the best film prize at Russia’s main national film festival Kinotavr, which drew to a close Sunday in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi.

The drama, which centers on a veterinarian working at a remote training station for hunting dogs, was also awarded the film critics' guild prize, and its male lead Stepan Devonin received the best actor prize.

Grigory Konstantinopolsky picked up the best director's award for Russky bes (Russian Demon).

Anna Slyu was tapped as best actress for her role in Ivan I. Tverdovskiy's Podbrosy (Jumpman), while that pic's director of photography, Denis Alarcon-Ramirez, collected the best cinematography prize.

The best screenplay award went to Avdotya Smirnova, Anna Parmas and Pavel Basinsky, writers of Smirnova's film Istoriya odnogo naznacheniya (Story of One Appointment).

Leonid Desyatnikov and Alexei Sergunin, composers of Sergei Livnev's Van Gogi (Van Goghs), picked up the best music award.

The jury also awarded a special diploma to Marta Kozlova, the young star of Alexei Fedorchenko's Voina Anny (Anna's War).

The festival's jury issued a statement in support of Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov who is under house arrest, charged with embezzlement, and Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov who is imprisoned in Russia for alleged terrorism and has been on hunger strike for nearly a month.